ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

Gravitational waves from early universe remain elusive

Posted: 31 Jan 2015 08:10 AM PST

A joint analysis of data from the Planck space mission and the ground-based experiment BICEP2 has found no conclusive evidence of gravitational waves from the birth of our universe, despite earlier reports of a possible detection. The collaboration between the teams has resulted in the most precise knowledge yet of what signals from the ancient gravitational waves should look like, aiding future searches.

NASA launches groundbreaking Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) observatory

Posted: 31 Jan 2015 08:06 AM PST

NASA successfully launched its first Earth satellite designed to collect global observations of the vital soil moisture hidden just beneath our feet. The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) observatory now begins a three-year mission that will figuratively scratch below Earth's surface to expand our understanding of a key component of the Earth system that links the water, energy and carbon cycles driving our living planet.

Hydrogen production in extreme bacterium

Posted: 31 Jan 2015 04:18 AM PST

Scientists have discovered a bacterium that can produce hydrogen, an element that one day could lessen the world's dependence on oil.